Back From Vegas

Martin · 15 years (7:30 PM · Sep 22, 2008)

And back to the grind of the working life.

My girlfriend had some business to do in Las Vegas this weekend, and I tagged along for the trip. It was my first trip to Vegas, and definitely won't be my last; I had a great time, and even made it out with only a small gambling debt.

I flew out on Friday and met my girlfriend at the hotel, a small-ish but nice place only a half block off the strip, which proved to be a great location for refuge after a lot of walking in the desert sun. I was surprised to see the rows of slot machines inside the airport terminal - it seems one can gamble from the moment his or her plane arrives to the moment it leaves again.

That night we went out to take in some of the typical tourist stuff: the local hotels, casinos, and the sights around them. The Bellagio was probably the nicest spot, with the amazing fountain show out front (synchronized to the tune of Chicago's "All That Jazz"), the glass ceiling in the foyer, and the beautiful fall conservatory display (which was sadly under partial construction at the time).

Caesar's Palace was also pretty incredible. We wandered around the indoor casino sections, clubs, restaurants, shops, and other faux sky covered venues 'til our feet hurt.

The next day, my girlfriend had to a work event in the morning and afternoon, so I spent a good deal of time just walking around, looking at everything. After we grabbed an awesome breakfast at Paris, I hit the Miracle Mile Shops, and then the Vegas strip. I ducked into the odd casino here and there to cool off (it was hot outside), and before my walk was through, I'd finished off two sodas and a bottle of water. I got to see some more great stuff, like the Venetian gondolas and the pirate ship at Treasure Island, and of course, I did a little gambling on one of my breaks from the street. Throughout the trip, I only gambled about $40, and though I did have small winnings here and there, I lost it all in the end. I had a good time doing it though, so I have no regrets.

After getting some much-needed rest in the hotel, my girlfriend arrived and we went out again. We had a great dinner at Pampa's in Planet Hollywood, and then took an impromptu limo ride over to the MGM Grand to catch Kà, one of the handful of Cirque du Soleil shows in Vegas.

Kà is the second Cirque show I've seen, and though I imagine it's quite hard to be as blown away by the wonder of a Cirque show as the first one you see, it was an absolutely amazing show. Through a series of performances which expertly mix theater and acrobatics, the tale of two siblings and their travels to re-unite is told. This show's signature is a moving platform which serves as floor, wall, and everything in between as the performers run, climb, fight, bounce, and slide over it. It's hard to describe it in words without giving too much away, but I highly recommend seeing Kà if you're even in Vegas and have time to see a Cirque show. It was truly incredible.

My girlfriend and I finished off the night with a quick walk over to New York New York, and just barely made it onto the roller-coaster there. It was fitting to end the last night of a whirlwind trip on a whirlwind ride.

On Sunday, we got up early, had one final breakfast (a champagne breakfast!) at the Caesar's Palace buffet, gambled a few more dollars, and then headed to the airport. A fun weekend for sure. Hopefully we can visit Vegas again someday when we've got a little more time to play around.

10 Comments

  • Noone told me it was write about gambling on your blog week… and to think I wrote about sunshine and kittens… maybe next week…

  • …er, why is your name trying to be the opposite of NakedPaulToast?

  • Dmaster270 says:

    I missed you. You could’ve said good-bye.

  • Haha, well sorry Dmaster… isn’t saying “hello” after coming back even better? :)

  • Dmaster270 says:

    Hello is nice. But, this isn’t one of those “everybody knew it was coming” breaks. It happend out of the blue.

  • Hehe, I will never understand why people gamble for the purposes of winning anything. For entertainment, sure, maybe, kinda sorta, I can understand that there’s some sort of thrill when you finally make up for all your past losses. Only one party can monetarily benefit, and guess which party doesn’t…

  • BenRK says:

    I never found Vegas to be all that fun. Of course, I was 13 when I was first there. My family spent 2 nights at Circus Circus. We spent several hours (with out our gameboys) alone in the hotel room (me and my siblings, parents were out). There was NOTHING on the tv, and the only thing really worth watching was a constantly looping commercial for the hotel and casino.

    I did win an albino stuffed monkey though!

  • xot says:

    Sorry to hear that BenRK. I went to Circus Circus when I was a kid. They had the largest arcade I’ve ever seen. It was definitely the highlight of the trip. That was like 1981, long before Vegas was remotely kid-friendly. Back then it was basically the only place a kid was allowed. I imagine things have changed a lot since then, including today’s vastly increased fear of pedophiles. I was left happily unattended with 100 quarters burning a hole in my pocket. They probably don’t allow that anymore.

  • Sinaz says:

    Yay… Vegas. Next time you go, check out the hotels out by Freedmont st. where old Vegas is. Great room deals, they modernized the street into a covered prominade, and all the games are low-stakes. It’s great… currently, it’s becoming a sort of the hipster part of Vegas where the younger crowd goes to kick it old school (though, there’s still a lot of trailer trash there.)

    I’ve been wanting to see Ka for a while. And I’ve promised my fiancee a performance of Blue Man Group. Can’t wait to go back for some of that. What was the other circue du soleil you saw? If you haven’t seen O and ever intend to see it, try to get seats as close to the stage as possible. I don’t want to give anything away, but the closer to the level of the surface of the pool your eyes are, the better the spectacle is.

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